But Odysseus prevails and it is Polyphemos who, in the end, is nēpios:

Although the word nēpios seems here to refer to a mental deficiency, Polyphemos is also, by nature, socially disconnected, and his encounter with Odysseus—an aborted guest-friendship—simply confirms him in that role.

This type of speech is discussed below. Briefly, its elements are: insults, threats, an example from the past, and a prediction for the future that takes the form of a warning. There is no real example from the past in Achilles’s speech, but there is a token, an example from another sphere: the sceptre, which will never again bear leaves. All the other elements, except the concluding phrase, are clearly there. Perhaps the reason the proverbial phrase does not appear here is that Achilles spells out exactly, and with reference to Agamemnon specifically, what its import is:

The Achaian army as a whole is also characteristically nēpios. After Agamemnon’s dream, the import of which he, nēpios, did not understand (II 35–38) and his subsequent deceiving of the army, Nestor accuses the Achaians of taking counsel like paisin nēpiachois (“nēpios children,” II 337–338). When Priam has suggested that the armies stop fighting and that Paris will give back the plundered possessions of Menelaos but not Helen, none of the Greeks knows what to say:

But finally Diomedes, who is the usual person to speak after long silences (cf. IX 30 ff., IX 695 ff., X 218 ff.), says:

That is to say: all the Achaians are acting in a nēpios fashion.

During the final rout of the Achaians before Achilles joins the battle, Ajax remarks:

When Telemachos was still nēpios, he took part in the improper feasts of the suitors. But now that he is no longer nēpios, he is committed to stopping them and restoring proper order.

At this council Agamemnon declares that the army should stay together and offer sacrifice to Athene. Nestor says of Agamemnon:

After Odysseus had sacked the city of the Kikones (ix 39 ff.), he bid his men flee quickly. His narration continues:

It was an improper feast, and its consequences, like the consequences of that other improper feast on the cattle of the Sun god, were disastrous. For both Agamemnon and Odysseus’s men, their mental disconnection causes, or at least occurs in the same context with, their social disconnection. The word nēpios expresses both. The context of improper feasts or, more generally, violations of the social order, which is apparent in the three examples given above, is expanded and made into a whole episode in the story of Odysseus’s encounter with the Kyklops. Not only does Polyphemos not provide proper hospitality for Odysseus, but Odysseus’s men become an improper feast for Polyphemos. The three occurrences of the word nēpios in this episode are discussed above. I can now add that the whole issue of who will turn out to be really nēpios, the radically disconnected Polyphemos or the temporarily disconnected Odysseus, is expressed in terms of the social institutions that serve to connect men, namely hospitality and feasting.

She does not use the word nēpios, but compare the following similar passages:

Penelope is saying to Telemachos (xviii 215–225) “if you are not nēpios why do you allow the stranger to be mistreated?” Or, more simply, “It is nēpios to mistreat strangers.” And, indeed, Telemachos answers her with these words:

We might find some support for the notion that deeds are superior to words in the fact that both Hektor (XIII 726–728) and Achilles (XVIII 105–106) are said to be better at fighting than at counsel. An even better example is Agamemnon’s taunt to Diomedes:

In the long speech that follows, the dramatic illusion is strained; an actor in the drama displays a consciousness of himself as a subject of poetry. Aeneas does not address himself to the content of Achilles’s speech, but to its form. He says, in effect, “I recognize that you have used a certain type of speech common in battle scenes,” and he proceeds to reflect upon the relationship of warriors and poetry.

He gives two lines each to both sets of parents, and concludes with a reminder of the business at hand:

He ends as he began: the battle will not be decided epeessi . . . nēputiosin (“by nēputios words”). And, having gone back to the beginning, he starts all over again, with a tribute to the power of poetry:

He gives an artful sketch of his ancestry starting from Zeus. It contains a tiny epyllion in the story of the horses of Erichthonios. He includes a tribute to the power of Zeus and again remarks that they ought not to stand talking “like nēputioi” when there is fighting to be done. He has gone back to the beginning once again. The remaining 13 lines contain more reflections on the technique Achilles has used: insulting his enemy before fighting. These lines, if anything, seem to be a description of talking “like a nēputios.” The characteristics of this kind of speech, as described here, are as follows:

Hektor answers with the bare elements of Aeneas’s speech: “do not try to frighten me with words like a nēputios; I too understand the use of insult; I know your story and mine; let us fight” (XX 431–437).

He is responding to Achilles’s unspoken boast and threat, which he correctly foresees is empty. None of these exchanges that begin with an insult and contain the word nēputios ever ends with the death of one of the contenders. Poseidon puts a mist in the eyes of Achilles and snatches Aeneas away. Both Hektor and Agenor are wrapped in mists by Apollo.

Athene knocks Ares down with a rock, having avoided a thrust of his spear. She calls him nēputios (XXI 410) and adds her own boast and threat.

Apollo is too high-minded to fight, but again, his answer is based on the power of reputation:

Idomeneus answers that he knows Meriones is brave. He describes how to tell the difference between a brave man and a coward, and he concludes thus:

That is, questions of kleos cannot be resolved in talk. They must turn to action. Talking “like nēputioi “ is inappropriate talking. Talking, which should be a form of social connection, becomes, when it is talking “like a nēputios,” a form of social disconnection. {83|84}

The gods had advised Aigisthos not to kill Agamemnon, but he did not heed that advice. As I said above, Odysseus must get rid of two groups of men in order to emerge as warrior-hero: his companions and the suitors. His men perish spheterēsin atasthaliēsin (“by their own recklessness,” i 7). The suitors perish, having done an atrocious deed atasthaliēsi kakēsi (“in evil recklessness,” xxiv 458). Divine advice is abundant in the Odyssey. Not only does Hermes advise Aigisthos and Athene Telemachos, but sea nymphs advise Menelaos and Odysseus, Proteus advises Menelaos, Hermes advises Odysseus how to avoid Kirke’s evil magic, and Kirke in turn advises him how to complete his journey, Athene advises Odysseus how to overcome the suitors. There is a folk-tale-like, direct quality to most of this advice. Those who follow it succeed.

Asios’s men follow him:

The followers of the doomed Hektor suffer under a similar contamination. When Hektor makes the fatal decision not to return to Troy, but to encamp on the field of battle, his army assents:

In a similar passage, Hektor has encouraged his men to seize the corpse of Patroklos and has promised half the spoils to the successful:

Later in the same book, Hektor has encouraged Aeneas to help him capture Achilles’s horses. They are joined by Chromios and Aretos:

Although they follow advice, Hektor’s followers are nēpios because he is nēpios himself.

Since it is Achilles who must emerge as the warrior-hero, his companion Patroklos follows the same pattern as Odysseus’s men: he does not take the good advice of his leader.

In these passages, the word nēpios sounds like a reproach. “Fool!” it is usually translated. And yet, rationally, from our point of view, mostof these people had no way of knowing the thing they did not know. The most obvious example is Andromache. She is not a fool; she simply has not yet been informed of Hektor’s death. Or, how could Agamemnon have known what Zeus was planning? In this section, I shall try to find answers to these questions and also to make clearer why I speak of these failures of mental perception as mental disconnections.

Zeus relies on Agamemnon to misinterpret the prophecy.

These two things, then, are characteristic of kings: they are under the special care of Zeus and they are prone to anger. These very things cause the third characteristic of kings: they are liable to be deceived.

Kings do not know past and future, but seers do. Kalchas is described in the following way:

The same thing is said of Poulydamas:

Two other people in the Iliad and Odyssey are said to have this ability. One is Priam (III 108–110), and the other is one of the wise elders of Ithake, Halitherses (xxiv 451–452). Kalchas is “the best of the bird interpreters,” and Poulydamas bases his prediction of the Trojan defeat on a bird sign (XII 200 ff.). Halitherses is described in this way:

Priam, like Halitherses, is an old man, knows past and future, and is acquainted with bird signs. When he is about to leave Troy to recover the body of Hektor, he and Hekabe pray for a sign, and Zeus sends an eagle (XXIV 290 ff.).

It is difficult for children to have a share in adulthood and it is difficult for men to have a share in divinity. The profane condition is the condition of most men. We do not know the future; we cannot make the connection between the past and future; we are mentally disconnected. Hence we make mistakes, and hence we die. Aristotle quotes Alcmaion saying: